Teach Me (Larry Stylinson)

34

"Bye! I love you!" Louis shouts over his shoulder as he runs down the stairs. Harry rolls his eyes and then gets up out of bed, looking around for his jeans.

"Little jerk, I'll show you. I have friends."

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"Hello Mitch!" Harry exclaims as he approaches the check out counter.

"Oh great, it's you." Mitch says sarcastically under his breath, standing up from behind the counter.

"How are you?" Harry smiles brightly as he rests his arms on the counter. Mitch glances down at Harry's arms and then his eyes look around for a way to get him out of this conversation.

He fails to find anything that can save him so he mutters "I'm alright." Mitch fiddles with the hem of his shirt as he waits for Harry to leave.

"That's great! I'm doing pretty well myself actually. That capo I bought is being used amazingly and it's really all fantastic." Harry says his smile never once faltering.

"I've actually been trying to-"

"Sorry, did you need something or-"

"-write a song and it's turning out to be a lot harder than I anticipated and so I thought I'd come over and see if there's any books on music theory I could use." Harry says and Mitch just listens and once again looks around for a costumer in need.

"And then I run into my favorite guitar shop employee!" Harry says, gesturing towards Mitch whose face remains neutral.

"You go to a lot of guitar shops?" Mitch questions and Harry coughs and then scratches the back of his neck. "No actually...this is the...only one I've been to... hey! I'm not really great at this whole friend thing and I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me or something. God this is so weird, why am I acting like I'm asking you to prom." Harry is just rambling over his words now.

"I'll hang out with you if it means you'll stop talking and bothering me at my workplace." Mitch deadpans and Harry lets out a nervous chuckle.

"Right. Yeah. Yeah of course. I'm cool, I swear." Harry says with a tight lipped smile.

Mitch's unrelenting stare remains and he just nods slightly. "Alright." He mumbles. "Books are over there." He points to the left and Harry nods.

"Great, thanks Mitch." Harry says and he turns to leave, but Mitch speaks up again. "I play the guitar a bit and I've written some stuff before so maybe I could help." Mitch shrugs, his demeanor entirely nonchalant.

"That sounds great. Thank you." Harry smiles and Mitch does, what Harry supposes, is a smile. Harry looks through the different books and picks one out titled "Songwriting for dummies"

"I am a bit of a dummy." He mumbles under his breath as he takes the book and heads back towards the checkout counter.

Harry tucks the book under his arm and admires the electric guitars that are up on display. He's chewing the inside of his cheek and humming as he browses, telling himself he'll get one someday.

When Harry gets to the counter there's a lady buying a ukulele and Harry watches with an amused smile as she chats excitedly to Mitch who just stares at her while occasionally nodding, his hand is extended, holding her receipt, waiting for her to take it and leave.